Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Public and Political Support for Russian Truckers Strike Grows -- and Some Officials Back Down

Paul
Goble

Staunton, April 25 – Not only are
more drivers continuing to join the long-haul truckers’ strike across the
Russian Federation, but two developments in the last 24 hours demonstrate that
the strikers are attracting more public and political support and that some
officials who earlier moved against the strike have been compelled to back
down.

In Ulan-Ude, the capital of
Buryatia, about 300 people assembled in a meeting to show their support for the
drivers.The action was organized by
Bair Pirenov, a deputy in the republic parliament. Those who took part carried
signs declaring “I’m a Long-Haul Driver Too” and “Can it be that half the
truckers on strike are in Ulan-Ude alone?” (asiarussia.ru/news/16005/).

Regional strike leaders said they
felt they had achieved their goals because senior officials have now met with
them and Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko has promised a full-scale
review of the Plato system.They said
that they would suspend their action now but resume it at a moment’s notice if
the government didn’t move quickly to end the Plato fees.

Tsyrenov, a KPRF deputy, said that
the long-haul drivers in Buryatia had decided to go back to work now because
they must earn money to feed their families, although he added that “many were
inclined to remain on strike until a victorious conclusion.” The meeting, which
he helped organize, thus represents the end “of one of the stages of a protest
which will continue.”

But while the strike has been
suspended in Buryatia and the Transbaikal, the deputy continued, drivers in
nearby Irkutsk Oblast and elsewhere remain off the job, Tsyrenov
continued.In addition to the communist
deputy, deputies from the United Russia Party and independents as well as
Yabloko activists took part in the meeting.

Meanwhile, in Daghestan, the
strikers continued their action and, together with local people, have forced the
local authorities to back down. The police earlier had arrested two striking
drivers. In response, the residents of Kayakent blocked a highway. They agreed
to end that action if the truckers were released. That has now happened (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/301620/).